


Dragon Enigmatic

by TheAzureFox



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: AU, F/M, boys are their dragons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-06-18
Packaged: 2018-10-22 09:18:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10694040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAzureFox/pseuds/TheAzureFox
Summary: It all starts when Yuzu finds a strange exotic red lizard in the pouring rain. When Rin finds hers as a thieving stalker. When Ruri finds her's as a mysterious savior and when Serena finds her's as the very thing that stalks her haunting dreams.Four dragons, four girls. Four boys who appear more mysteriously than they disappear and the strange portals that are left in their wake...just what is happening in Miami City?(AU in which the boys are their dragons and card games don't exist)





	1. The Red Lizard with the Di-Chromatic Eyes

Yuzu Hiragi is having a bad day.

That is to say, she’s having an _extremely_ bad day. Most of her bad days are simple – she’s sick, she’s tired, she’s moody and doesn’t want to deal with Sawatari’s shit any longer – but today of all days seems to take the cake.

First off, she is unable to turn off her alarm. Now, that is nothing in itself. She presses snooze all the time (who doesn’t? Sleep is much better than the pains of getting dressed and putting together a half-hearted bowl of cereal) and generally the irritation she feels towards the alarm diminishes as soon as reality hits her.

Today, however, it is a wailing megaphone of disaster. Her alarm, which is normally set to sound like ringing bells, has turned into a raging cacophony of monkey howls, toucan screeches, and a chittering of bugs that never seems to stop. Worse yet, she is unable to silence the damn thing. It makes endless rainforest noises on the highest volume possible and no matter what she button she pushes on its sleek, eye-hurting screen, it continues to shriek like some sort of demon. In fact, Yuzu believes it to be possessed. There is no other possible explanation for her alarm being changed to _goddamn rainforest sounds_ when that is quite possibly the worst thing for any one person to wake up to in the morning.

Her parents, of course, are awoken by the racket and, by some cruel miracle, when they barge into her door to yell at her and her phone it silences itself. Yuzu is left with empty explanations and a warning, her parents rubbing at groggy eyes and muttering sleepy curses under their breath. Yuzu almost would’ve felt offended had it not been for the fact that she now held a certain loathing for anything alarm-related.

The next thing she notices is her sudden aptitude for tripping on the most random of objects. Now, by no means is Yuzu a clumsy person. In fact, she prides herself on being able to maintain it, dancing around people in the hallways and showing off whenever gymnastics week rolls around in gym.

Today, however, she is quite possibly the clumsiest person in existence. She trips over stairs (when going down them, not _up._ Is that even possible? She wonders.), trips over pebbles and of course there is always some random stranger to catch her in his or her arms, leaving Yuzu offering ceaseless apologies that end with her walking away in embarrassment.

She half expects some fancy-schmancy boy with a tattered jacket and emo design to pick her off her feet and laugh at her clumsiness like some poorly written love interest from a poorly written love story. Those types of boys always fell for the sweet, clumsy girls, right? Granted, Yuzu wasn’t possibly the most sweet girl in existence (she admits to having a temper problem) but she sure as hell wasn’t a _klutz._ The very word is a painful reminder of her early days in gymnastics, mostly memories of bruises, mocking and tears spilled down her cheeks. No, certainly, she was not clumsy anymore.

Her alarm has costed her her sleep. Her sudden clumsiness her pride. Now, what is left of her – her sanity – is stolen away by the migraine that drives itself into her skull. She’s never had a migraine before, but she knows the symptoms. Fatigue crawls into her system and her head pounds with a sense of pulsation. Each pulse stabs a tiny little needle into her mind like some kind of parasite that crawls around inside. At least she doesn’t have a bug in her mind though, that would be rather upsetting but, at the moment, she wonders if it’s a better alternative to the headache that tears into her skull.

The deadly combination of the aforementioned items has Yuzu in a bad mood. She finds the smallest reasons for irritation (a cat-call, a random stranger who bumps shoulders with her, a lazy blonde-and-brown-haired lab partner) and lashes out against them (one throttled boy, a loud curse, and severe scolding that has one lazy blonde-and-brown-haired lab partner shuddering in his seat).

So, naturally, she doesn’t expect her day to get any worse.

She couldn’t be more wrong.

…Or could she?

~~~

Schools ends at the sound of a sweet, sweet bell. Yuzu head immediately perks at the ring of freedom but it is promptly ignored as piercing pain pounds into Yuzu’s skull. The end of school means many things, mostly good things, but it also means she is free of any obligation to play nice. Rin, her friend, has already taken off minutes earlier and Yuzu has no reason to remain in place.

She stretches, her body pulling out of the chair as the sound of zippers opening and students chattering fill her ears. She winces, their voices magnified under her migraine, and she hurries outside, into a stream of multi-colored fish which push past her like the school they are. Yuzu doesn’t take time to make inquiries or chat and she finds herself muttering under her breath as she passes multiple slowpokes who seem more focused on blocking the hallway with their phones in their faces than letting people past. She wants to get home as soon as possible, not trapped behind this barricade of idiots.

When she finally reaches the outside world (finally) she finds dark storm clouds swirling over head. The world is painted in faint shadows and she looks on in envy when students around her pull out their fancy-schmancy umbrellas that they happened to have on them. She forgotten hers, oblivious to the weather forecast as she’d rushed ( _tripped_ ) out the door. She hadn’t even had the foresight to bring a raincoat and she trudges on with the knowledge that she’s screwed as soon as the clouds decide to let loose their massive burden.

Still, on she walks, feet stepping across concrete blocks. Students press around her, moving to and fro as they head to their destinations. The group thins out as she moves further along and, eventually, she is the last one left.

A pitter-patter. Soft and sweet but Yuzu’s eyes narrow with dismay. Soft drops of wet land on the back of her neck, collecting on her clothing and she represses the urge to shudder. The rain starts off lightly, toying with her, and then in a split second it transforms into a downpour, shocking her with the sheer cruelty of its luggage.

She shivers, clutches her arms to her chest and hurries on. Her clothes stick to her skin, her shirt pressing up against her chest and her skirt sinking to reach down to her knees.

The downpour creates a faint curtain of transparent white that threatens her view of the sidewalk. Wind whips at her hair and her feet chases after it, swaying her body side-to-side until she has to clench her teeth and fight against it as best she can. _Damn, just how bad can this storm get?_

A high-pitched whine.

Yuzu’s head jerks at the sound and she finds herself looking down an alleyway at her left in concern. A dog? Out here, in this weather?

The pink-haired girl halts her progress, craning her ears to listen despite her mind’s insistence to avoid getting any more wet. She stands for a few seconds and muses to herself about her lack of sanity at the present moment.

Another whine, louder and shriller than the first. It is almost pitiful, that sound. Yuzu is torn between investigating and hurrying home. The alleyway before her is a death trap of darkness, nearly pitch-black and reeking of garbage. She’s well aware of the consequences of treading down such narrow passageways (there’s been some pretty weird sickos around, lately) but there is a certain obligation that makes her sigh and step towards it.

“I can’t just leave a dog alone in this downpour,” she reasons. She wonders if she’s becoming just like Rin, a softie for anything that wasn’t human. Rin was a self-proclaimed lover of animals and would never abandon one left out on the streets in such horrible weather. Yuzu figures its her turn to show human decency.

She treads carefully through the alleyway, avoiding the tragedies of opened cans and rotting fruit. The smell of garbage lingers in her nose and she wrinkles it in disgust, pushing further and further as the dog before her whines in desperation. The sound makes her heart pound in concern and she moves faster, arm blocking her face from the rain that cascades down upon her.

A shape shifts in front of her, a reddish blob that pushes itself against the three walls that form the end of the alleyway. It is a rather small creature, maybe about the size of a toy poodle, but the details of its design are _fascinating._

The thing before her isn’t a dog but some kind of bipedal lizard. Red scales the color of blood run down its neck while black runs along its underside. Two spikes of ivory material peer out of its back and are lined with jewels that sparkle with the dew of the rain. A blue orb sits on its stomach, curled inside spherical bone-like material that matches with the color of the two long, bull-like horns on its head.

The exotic lizard creature seems to be oblivious to her presence, scratching at brick walls and making pitiful mewls that make Yuzu’s heart ache. It tries desperately to scratch little claws in to the surface and, when it finds it cannot climb it, it resorts to huddling, pulling its entire body close to itself so as to appear as some misshaped ball. It makes a low whining sound, rain skidding down its scales.

Yuzu crouches down next to it, unsure of what to say. “H-Hey little buddy,” she coos, her mind not offering any other words. “It’s okay, don’t be scared of me.”

It finally takes notice of her, spinning around with its tail raised in alarm and it pushes itself against the wall, whimpering. The creature cries out again, this time more desperately, and throws its head back and wails.

“Are you…are you alone?” she asks it, reaching out a hand.

It retreats, flinching as her fingers approach. It swings its head side-to-side and then moves on from crying to whimpering as if it suspects her words are correct. Helpless, it put its head to the ground and its hands over its face.

Slowly, softly, Yuzu runs her fingers over its ivory horns, moving them back and forth like she might do for a cat. She doesn’t know if the creature before her is some kind of exotic lizard or something (honestly, that’s Rin’s territory, not her’s) but she figures that it won’t mind the gesture.

A tremble of shock rocks the creature’s body. It jumps, tail thrashing with panic. She stares at it, second-guessing herself as it pulls up like a cobra might but instead finds herself surprised as it gives her an incredulous stare.

“It’s okay,” the girl murmurs, “I don’t intend to hurt you. Do you have an owner?”

It’s at this point she begins to think herself insane. Maybe it’s the migraine or her ailing feet, but she has the sudden inclination to believe this creature could understand her. The lizard bobs its head side to side as if to respond “no” and she wonders if she is merely misreading the animal’s body language.

She sighs, prepared to give a pep talk to a creature like she might a child. “Look, it’s not safe to be out here in this rain. I don’t know anything about exotic, weird-looking and rather large lizards but this weather probably isn’t good for you either. Why don’t you come home with me for now and we can try and find out where you came from later?”

Eyes of gold and emerald stare at her and she curses herself for being so stupid. It’s a lizard, it’s not going to understand her.

Yet, by some miracle, its cries soften to a near invisible pitch and it crawls towards her, arms reaching out. Yuzu scoops it up into her arms, head tucked against the rain, and runs out of the alleyway. The creature bounces in her arms but makes no protest, curling up against her for warmth. She wishes she had brought her coat with her, wishes she had an umbrella or _something_ to protect her from the rain, but, alas, she doesn’t.

So, she strides through the rain with a creature in her arms and a headache that is slowly subsiding. She holds the creature closer and wishes for a break.

What she wouldn’t give for this day to change its awful tone of pace.

~~~

Her father was, amazingly enough, not home by the time she arrives to her house. There was a note left behind on a fridge, a single reminder of a ‘work night’, and Yuzu was left to remember that today was one of the rare occasions she was to be left alone for the day.

So, cradling the strange lizard in her arms, she realizes she’ll meet no resistance as she heads to her room. She grabs a towel on her way up as well as a few toss away quilts and settles the lizard upon her bed.  

The creature was trembling, shivering with cold as it wobbled to its feet. It began sniffing the air, tail raised, and trod around her bed with a curious intent. Yuzu watches it with amusement, grabbing the towel from her pile of items and picking up the lizard with it. It whines, upset at the interruption in its investigation, and she ignores its pleas of distress as she dries it down. When she finishes, she places it back on the bed.

It huffs in annoyance and jumps off her bed. It begins making a spectacle of itself, sniffing anything it could reach. It poked its nose under the clothes she had left on the floor (which she had promptly picked up and put away into her personal laundry bin), the miscellaneous candy wrappers scattered about (which Yuzu tossed away for fear of poisoning the lizard) as well as a couple of boxes she had left empty and at the corner of her room, forgotten.

It especially took notice of the latter item, grabbing the smallest box it could find to gnaw on and claw at and Yuzu half-thought it was more cat than lizard. She laughs at such a sight, earning what seems like a pout from the crimson creature. She picks up the box out of reach for curiosity’s sake and it whines, lashes its tail, and moves on to the second smallest box. It flips that one over and scurries under it, poking its head out like some sort of bizarre cross-breed between a turtle and a lizard.

“Do you have some sort of weird obsession with boxes?” she asks it and it mewls in response, arms poking out and waving as if to throw a childish tantrum. “Some strange lizard you are!”

It rolls around underneath the box, dragging the item with it.

She huffs at the action and begins a quick search for her phone. Finding it, she pulls it out and figures one late call can’t possibly hurt. Better now than in the early morning when her intended recipient would likely throw a hissy fit for being awoken so early (In Yuzu’s defense, only an hour earlier than usual). She dials a number and hopes her friend will pick up.

“Hello?” a picture flashes on her screen of a girl holding a puppy. Rin looks into the camera with exasperation. “Why are you calling me this late, Yuzu? The animal shelter’s almost closed!”

“Sorry, there’s a burning question on animals that I need help on.”

Rin’s eyes brighten with interest. “An animal? What kind? Is it sick? Is it in water? You didn’t get a betta fish in a bag did you, a bag is such a terrible thing for a-!”

“No, no, of course not you animal nerd! It’s about a lost pet.”

“A lost pet?”

“Yeah, some kind of exotic lizard. Real strange one too, with jewels and red scales. I was thinking someone might have called into the animal shelter if they were missing him.”

“Yuzu…”

“Hmm?”

Rin frowns. “That doesn’t sound like any kind of lizard I know. Do you have a picture? We haven’t had any reports of a lizard gone missing but apparently someone _is_ missing a boa constrictor…”

The pink-haired girl raises an eyebrow. “This…isn’t a boa constrictor though.”

Rin gives her an imploring look through her phone’s camera. “Show me.”

Yuzu moves her phone to face towards the strange, exotic creature. It peers up, curious as to what is being shoved in its face, and seems to give a high-pitched whine as it recognizes Rin’s face. It falls backwards, arms moving up and down before it skitters under the cardboard box it had previously playing turtle with. Yuzu looks back at her screen. “So, that’s what it-…Rin? What’s wrong?”

Her friend looks back with face pale and jaw gaping. “Y-Yuzu,” she says with a kind of shock, “that’s definitely _not_ a lizard. It’s not a snake either. That’s…something else entirely!”

“Something else? Aren’t you the animal expert here? Shouldn’t you know what type of animal it is?”

The green-haired girl shakes her head. “I wouldn’t know, I’ve never…,” her eyes gleam, “but…but if it’s a new species, something we’ve never seen before, I want to be the first – well okay second – to know about it! Yuzu, can you keep it inside your house for a few days until I can come by? My schedule’s quite full tomorrow, I’ve got an appointment with a potential client…but maybe two days from now, Saturday, right? I should be able to come by then.”

“I’m not sure I can keep it that long, Rin.”

“Why not?” There’s a visible pout.

“Dad might not let me keep it. You know he’s not fond of animals. Besides, it might be dangerous.”

“Has it attacked you?”

“No…?”

“Has it shown any signs of aggression towards you?”

“No, quite the opposite, in fact.”

“Does it spit venom or make weird sounds or do weird things that usually signal irritation in a human?”

“Nope, nope, and nope,” Yuzu stares at her creature as it peeks its head from out of its hiding spot, eyeing her phone in distrust.

Rin sighs and places the puppy in her arms down upon the ground. She places her hands on her hips and gives Yuzu a cautionary stare. “Be careful with it for now, alright? I’ve never seen a creature like it before and I don’t want my friend getting herself killed before I can come and see it.”

“Jeez, thanks for the concern over my now imminent death.”

“Of course, I’d worry over that too!” Rin gives Yuzu an exasperated chuckle at her deadpan expression and hurries on. “Take good care of it, alright? It’s probably hungry if you’ve found it out in this weather. Looking at its teeth, or what I saw of it, I’d suggest an omnivore or carnivore diet. Try anything on hand and see if it eats it. It could become a threat to itself if it doesn’t eat something and please, please don’t let this amazing find starve.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of it. Thanks for the help and see you in two days, hopefully.”

Rin nods. “Gotta go then. I can’t stay on break for too long either.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

The call ends and her companion crawls over to her, placing its hands on her legs. It mewls and Yuzu wonders if Rin’s advice would appeal to her current situation.

“Are you hungry?” she asks it and then chides herself for such thoughts. “Stay right here, I’ll go get some good. Meat, maybe?”

It tilts its head and whines. She points a scolding finger at it and backtracks slowly. It follows her, trodding with close steps that make it impossible to shut the door without locking it outside. She growls, nudging it towards the door but it whines and gives her puppy-dog eyes and she relents with a sigh and fingers rubbing against her forehead. Yuzu has time to spare before the children come over and, until then, she has to keep this creature occupied.

Her gaze strays to the side. Her little follower had taken a peculiar interest in the heels of her feet, nipping at the backs of them as she walks. It hisses and snarls (or, as close to a snarl as its cute voice can get) seemingly offended by the footwear. Yuzu sighs again and removes her shoes, placing them in front of the lizard to let it have its fun. Her creature chortles in surprise, watching with bemusement before it waddles to her toes.

Her new companion observes her feet with wonder, beckoning her eyes to the sores and bruises that mar the surface. Red ran raw against her white skin, creating a kind of throbbing that made Yuzu wince as the lizard prods her with its nose. It tilts its head, seemingly calculating, and takes a lick. The sensation tickles and Yuzu gives a slight giggle. The creature takes it as a remark of encouragement and continues to do so, its long pink and forked tongue licking at every wound in sight.

“S-Stop it!” she cries, falling down and skidding away. The strange lizard persists, tail lashing in irritation when she jolts away.

“N-Nyehh!” it protests, scampering forward. Yuzu quickly finds herself pinned to a wall, unable to escape it as it continues to nurse over her injuries. Unable to handle it, she bursts into laughing fits, tears collecting in her eyes as she struggles against it. However, after a few seconds of insistent licking it pulls back in a somewhat shy manner, head down.

The pink-haired girl looks over her feet, expecting to see them shiny with weird-lizard sober. Instead, all she notices is that her feet are free of injury, bruises gone and irritated red vanquished. She looks over them in amazement, startled at such a fast recovery.

“Did you…?” she wonders, staring down upon her companion. “How did you…? Can lizards even…?

It makes a huffing sound and loses interest, skulking through the hallway. It investigates anything within its limits from tables to rugs to the wooden picture frame she had left just outside the entrance of her room. Its mouth opened it interest and it began to gnaw on the frame, teeth sinking in to the wooden piece.

“Come here, stop that,” Yuzu picks up the lizard and cradles it in her arms with a scolding remark. She carries her way through the house and to the kitchen, depositing her lizard on top of a teal countertop. “Here.”

It observes its new surroundings with interest, head swinging side to side before it takes interest in the silver sink. The creature taps the faucet knobs with its hands, messing with the items until a spout of water sends it hurtling down into the sink. It howls in dismay, water rushing down its head. Yuzu hurries over to the sink, shutting off the gushing stream before picking up the drenched thing.

“You don’t know how to keep yourself out of trouble, do you?” she asks it, placing it back on the counter. It tilts its head in a curious fashion and she half-expects it to repeat its last experience. However, much to her bafflement, it only continues to stare at her. Dual-colored eyes of green and yellow observe her, sparking with intelligence. It almost seems like it was waiting for her to say something more, standing so still it was almost eerie…

A knock at the door. Three knocks combined into one.

Yuzu jumps at the noise and the lizard shrinks in size, scrambling back in stunned surprise. She picks it up and hurries to her room. She shoves it inside. “Stay here!” she hisses to it, closing the door. “Don’t leave until I get back!”

Great, now she was trusting an _animal_ to not only understand her but to _listen_ as well. Her headache was somehow making her delusional. Though, if she was delusional, the lizard shouldn’t have felt real. Was she in a lucid dream? Was that it? She had heard lucid dreams felt a little too real sometimes.

She makes her way to her front door, deliberating. If she pinched herself, she decided, then she’d most definitely wake up. Maybe then everything would be normal again. No weird alarm clock rainforest noises or clumsy feet or migraines or weird lizards that weren’t lizards…Maybe….

“Ouch!”

She winches as the skin of her wrist turns red with two indentations marked on the edge.

Godammit. She had wanted it all to be some sort of dream.

The knocks on her door become more insistent.

“Do you think she head us yet?” a voice on the other side inquires.

“Obviously not!” another voice huffs. “Keep knocking!”

“You guys!” a third voice, female in tone, gives a low sigh. “We’re probably disturbing! Who knows? Maybe for once in her life she has a boyfriend to go out with!”

Yuzu opens the door and gives all three of the children before her a malicious smile. They stare down at their feet, faces red and bodies fidgeting with embarrassment. A girl with red hair, a boy with blue hair and a boy with brownish hair greet her all with nervous sweat on their faces.

“H-Hello, Yuzu,” the blue boy, Tatsuya, says with a shy wave.

“Welcome, children,” she beckons them in. They hurry past her, ignoring the glare she gives. “How was school?”

Ayu takes up a spot on her couch, tossing her backpack upon the coffee table in front of her. Her embarrassment evaporates into thin air, a reassured smile upon her face. “It was boring!” she says. “Our teacher kept trying to teach us how to divide numbers. I spent most of my time doodling because I already knew how.”

Tatsuya slides next to her. “In all fairness, we were the only ones who had learnt the stuff already,” he points out, grabbing a mint chocolate from a bowl on the table. The boy pops it into his mouth and smiles. “You already taught us the basics.”

“Yeah,” Futoshi, the last of the trio, scoops up a handful of mints, “it was so easy thanks to your help! Half the class came to us asking for help!”

“I’m sure they were glad to have you guys teach them,” Yuzu says lightly, taking a seat opposite from them. “So then, I’m guessing you guys don’t have math homework to work on today?”

“Nope, just English,” Ayu states, grabbing papers from her backpack. “Although _that_ is hard, a lot harder than math. I don’t get it at all!”

Tatsuya and Futoshi nod in agreement. Yuzu looks over Ayu’s papers. “They do look a bit hard for elementary-schoolers,” she agrees, pointing to one of the words, “this one, in fact, we learned about just last year.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. We had to memorize for almost every test,” Yuzu gives an exasperated sigh. “You should’ve seen how bad it was. Even Masumi had issues with it.”

“Your rival?” Tatsuya chimes in question. “The one you’re always talking about how great she is?”

“The very same,” Yuzu laughs, thinking of the dark-skinned girl who she often competed against in every English class they took.

_Thump._

An audible noise makes itself known. Yuzu perks her head, as do the kids. They quail at such a strange sound, sinking into the couch.

“Y-Yuzu, do you have someone over?” Futoshi asks her.

“A boyfriend?” Ayu asks, near beaming with a kind of excitement that makes Yuzu scowl.

“No, I…,” she trails off, thinking of what to say. _Yes,_ she thinks, _I have a really weird lizard that I locked up in my room with no food and with the expectation that it will listen to whatever I say. I’m sure it’s not poisonous – probably – but you never know so please ignore it because Rin_ thinks _it’s not dangerous._ Yuzu ponders the explanation in her mind and then goes for another one. “I don’t have anyone over, no,” she lies, “I’m sure it’s just something that tipped over on its own, nothing to worry about.”

Ayu gives her a look that expresses slight disbelief. “It could be a ghost,” she offers. “Ghosts knock things over all the time in the books I read.”

Futoshi crosses his arms. “They give me the _shivers._ And not the good ones, either.”

“It’s not a ghost,” she reassures them. _It’s something much weirder._ She stands up and moves around the cough, angling her body in front of the long hallway that stretches to her room. “Now, let’s get back to homework. English, right? Let me help you out, I’m quite good at English, actually…”

They all give her dubious looks but settle in their spots, pouting. She sighs and watches them pull out their textbooks with depictions of letters of distant familiarity. English, in fact, is not her best subject but she’s quite good at reading it. Speaking, is, of course, another story.

“Alright,” she says, leaning forward with the intent of keeping them distracted, “show me the ones you’re having issues with.”

The trio of kids clamber over each other to point out the words and phrases they don’t understand. Yuzu goes along with them patiently, reciting what she knows to contrast with what they don’t know. She smiles, easing their minds onto something else, and then worries about her own little issue just feet away.

She hopes her lizard companion hasn’t knocked down anything of value.

~~~

The day ends with the kinds being sent home and her dad still at work. By the time her trio of three are picked up by their own guardians, Yuzu is tired and hungry. She’s eager to fix up a quick meal, one preferably fulfilling, and head to bed. Dealing with three bundles of energy tires her out sometimes, especially when her head still throbs with irritation.

So, Yuzu goes to her refrigerator, eager to grab a glass of milk and some microwaveable burritos. The cool air from the device feels nice upon her skin and she revels in it before picking out her items of interest. When she is done, she carefully shuts the door into place.

A red lizard stares up at her.

Yuzu nearly screams.

Startled by the sudden reappearance of her new friend, she stares at with a kind of flabbergasted shock. She had forgotten about its existence during the hours spent with the kinds and her mind had let it slip that there was still something inside the house with her.

“H-Hey there,” she says to it, voice shaking.

It mewls in response, its cutesy voice echoing her own in concern. Its tail swings back and forth behind it and it looks from her to her fridge with a kind of wonder. Saliva gathers on the edges of its mouth and its bi-colored eyes widen with fascination.

Yuzu realizes why. “I forgot to feed you, didn’t I?” she remarks and it turns to her with a perked up head. “Here, we can share.” She doesn’t know how well a burrito would feel to a lizard (did they even _like_ burritos, had anyone ever _tried_ before?) but the fridge had been absent of anything meaty when she’d checked it seconds ago.

It seems not to care, following her from the fridge to the microwave. She places all three of her burritos in the device and waits, sitting from her glass of milk. Her lizard looks up at her glass and moves its head from side to side, staring with curiosity.

“No, not for you,” she says.

It slinks past her and scrambles on top of one o the chairs placed on their dining room table. It chortles, waving its hands. Such an amusing display sends her chuckling and, in response, it begins to sulk.

“You’re a weird creature,” she tells it, smiling. “I didn’t think lizards liked milk – isn’t that a mammal thing? – but I suppose I can give you a dish later.”

It relaxes at that, giving a kind of huff and stands erect as the alarm rings off. She pulls a plate out of the microwave and hands her companion one burrito. She takes the other two for herself, settling down at the table.

The lizard looks over its food, sniffing with suspicion. There’s a kind of alarm that runs through it, a caution that makes it prod the item with its nose. When the skin of the burrito breaks and the melted insides make contact it seems surprised, licking at its nose. There’s a kind of pause, a seeming moment of hesitance in which it deliberates on an opinion, and then it begins gorging itself on the meal. Sharp little teeth shred into the burrito with no regard for mercy or dinner manners.

Yuzu watches it with kind of fascination. This exotic life-form, whose existence is a mystery to even someone like Rin, queen of all animal nerds, is intriguing to her. It’s a profound existence, this thing, and she wants to know all about it

~~~

By the time Yuzu is finished with her burritos and her glass of milk the creature is dozing off. It is trying its best to look alert, standing almost proudly on its two feet, but the swaying of its body and the drooping of its head suggests it is doing a bad job of it.

She washes her dishes and the lizard tries its best to keep an eye on her, head following her. It’s almost eerie, really, to be watched by an animal. Di-chromatic eyes offer no hint of what it’s thinking, only a subtle gleam that reflects the living room lights.

“Time for bed,” she announces, more to herself than to the creature. It perks at that but soon returns to its sleepy state, eyes almost dazed.

She stares at it, frowning. “I don’t really have any place for you to sleep. And, you can’t stay outside my room; my dad will find you and kick you out. I guess you can sleep on my bed, if nothing else.”

Its tail wags and it reaches for her with stubby arms. She takes the gesture as a plea for her to pick it up and obliges, expecting resistance. However, the creature merely curls up to her, pressing itself against her chest with a kind of purr. Yuzu sighs, hugging it closer, and journeys to her room. There, she sets aside her blankets and places on top of her bed. It offers no protest, curling into a little ball that furls its wing-like structures around its body. She joins it, slipping into her bed and curling her arms around the creature. It coos, creating a distinct purring sound that rumbles against her chest. Yuzu smiles, wondering if the thing is somehow part cat, and closes her eyes.

When she opens them again, a boy’s face stares into her’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha. Cliff-hanger. Don't you just love those? I think everyone loves them just the - *deep breath* - anticipation that stems from it, amiright?
> 
> I don't want to let Arc-V go. I love Arc-V and admittedly it's the show that got me to love Yu-gi-oh (as I was a peer-pressured prick beforehand who though that Yu-gi-oh was a kid's show and, therefore, it was stupid, even though I knew nothing about it besides what little I had seen as a child). I came in super late to the fandom, around the Synchro arc, and I regret not having been around at the beginning of the show. 
> 
> But, hey, now I'll be around for VRAINS, right? Like, I don't want VRAINS to come because most of the fandom will migrate there but at the same time it's NEW SHOW, NEW CHARACTERS, NEW STORY, NEW COOL THINGS so I'm half between hype and sadness right now. 
> 
> Anyways, next chapter is another bracelet girl's portion of this oncoming fiasco. Who is it, you may ask? The girl with the bracelet with the one stone. Very specific, right? It's totally obvious :))))
> 
> Let me know what you thought of this chapter-it's always nice to hear what other people think~


	2. The White Lizard with the Golden Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the second Bracelet Girl meets her dragon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahaha I'm so late for posting this. It's been a couple of months and I'm only now getting around to posting the second chapter. Hopefully I can do better with the third but no guarantees as I can churn out one-shots better than I can chaptered stories (*looks at the VRAINS fanfic fandom*). 
> 
> I was gonna do artwork for this with chibi dragons but maybe I'll update later when I actually feel like drawing.
> 
> Anyways, chapter two! Enjoy~

There are only two things Rin loves in life: animals and motorcycles.

The former is rather evident. Animals have been the cornerstone of her life, from the stray cats she greets down the street to the neighbor’s dogs that leap up gates and fences just to meet her. She considers herself an animal expert, a veterinarian in training armed with all the knowledge that only books and the internet could give her. And, when she’s not at school or at her house, she’s at the animal shelter. It’s a known fact among her peers and she is especially favored when one of her classmates has an ailing fish or sickly snake. She pities the poor creatures, sympathizes with their miseries even and she always hopes that, in some way, she can alleviate their worries.

If it wasn’t for her mother’s allergies towards anything animal, Rin is sure she’d be that one lady with the several million cats and dogs in her house. Alas, the only way she can get her daily dose of animal cuddling is at her workplace – the only place where she could interact with animals without being accused of stirring up her mother’s cold-like symptoms.

The latter of Rin’s two beloved things – motorcycles – is a forbidden luxury. It’s not so much a prohibited subject as one that always ends in a flurry of arguments and concern. Her parents love her, no doubt, but their ceaseless insistence on not touching anything bike-related (including tricycles of all things! _Tricycles!_ ) infuriates her to no end. Honestly, she can handle a motorcycle. And, while, _sure_ , she might rack up a few speeding tickets in the process, she sure as hell isn’t _not capable_ of owning one. She’s read all the books she can get her hands on, read all the manuals her fellow coworkers – Jack and Crow – own, and, yet, her parents to oblige her undying request for one. Their argument always plays the same, that she won’t be able to _handle_ it, that she’ll _crash_ and _burn_ and that she’ll become hospitalized for _life_. Ha, what a laugh.

So, while she’s kept away from one she’ll crave the other. And crave she does. She’s earned herself such a high reputation among those with animals that she’s become both Miami City’s local animal doctor and the local animal detective. It’s a little side-business of hers, an investigative system in which she takes care of other’s animal problems when they themselves are unable to. Escaped dog? She’ll ask around until she can track its nearby location. Ailing fish inside a bag? Dole out advice on why bags are never a good tank for a beta fish. Missing boa constrictor running about without an owner? On it! Although…she admits that the last one has been a problem for quite some time…The snake had been a nuisance lately, one that had sightings everywhere and yet somehow had been left uncaptured….

So, regardless, her reputation is why she’s awake at 6 A.M. in the goddamn morning. She is, by all means, an animal person. She is not, however, a morning person. In her opinion, morning is the _worst_ time of day, the most forbidden of occasions. It’s always cold and chilly, dark and lifeless and, above all, it sucks away what little time could be spent sleeping in.

Her phone rings with insistence, vibrating against the nightstand to her right, and she picks it up with groggy eyes blinking against the harsh light it creates. Her work phone. She puts it to her ear. “Yes, uh, hello? This is Rin of Rin’s Animal Services.”

“Ah, good. Then this is the right number. Took me a bit to find me. Had a good amount of girls screaming at me for god-knows-what,” he says, oblivious to the fact that Rin’s patience is already wavering. Oh, she _knows_ why. It’s six goddamn in the morning. “Anyways, I have a job for you.”

She pulls herself out of bed reluctantly and stares stupidly at her alarm clocl. “At this early…in the morning…?”

“Yes,” he snaps back, “because this is the _last straw!_ I’m sick and tired and _I want it gone!_ ”

Rin pinches the bridge of her nose and resists the urge to retort something witty. “With all due respect,” she says, “may I have your name and an explanation as to what you mean?”                                                

A pause, as if he hadn’t considered that. “My name is Roger,” he tells her, “and my issue is that I have a thieving _animal_ who keeps stealing _my_ food. My meat, specifically.”

Her interest is piqued. “Go on,” Rin urges, picking up a pencil.

“It’s a weird creature. It’s too fast for me to see, just a blur, but it’s oddly colored. It’s black and white with some green and blue too. Every time I make a meal – which is always meat because, face it, meat is the best and most basic food group – it gets stolen from me the moment I look away! _Every. Damn. Time._ This varmint’s fast, faster than anything I’ve even seen before! It only seems to appear whenever there is food available and at no other time.”

“Okay, alright,” she nods to herself and makes a note on a side piece of scratch paper. “And you want me to catch it, I’m guessing?”

“You’d be correct,” he huffs. “So, how does this work? Do I need to give my address or something? How much will this cost me?”

“Your address would be preferred; the charge is based on the amount of time I spend on the case. It can’t be very long though, I suppose,” she blinks at the dark hallway before her, staring into an endless section of black. “I have school today and work just after that. But, once that’s all over, I can come over once my shift is done. Assuming you’re free, of course?”

“Whatever, sure, I’ll be there. I’ll do anything. I can’t handle living with this little shit anymore. The sooner it gets out of here the better. Do whatever it takes to get rid of it – I don’t care for the method. Illegal or not, I just want this nuisance _gone_.”

Rin frowns. “Okay, give me your address.”

He lists off a place that sounds relatively close to her and she writes it down on her scrap piece of paper. “There, anything else?”

“No, thanks. Don’t worry sir, consider your problem solved,” she nods to herself as Roger clicks off.

Already, she’s excited. There’s something this particular task that has her in a frenzy, a kind of wonder that makes her gather together bundles of papers onto her desk. She scribbles away, pouring out anything and everything relevant to her case. Her creature of interest? Black and white in color with some green and blue too. A carnivore, probably, guessing by its preference of food. What type of animal would it be though? Something fast, something too quick for the human eye. A cat? Dog? Fox? But, no, none of those came in such odd colors much less had the capability to dart in and out with some sort of racket. Rin ponders over her possibilities, sorting them all out until all she can do is sigh and wonder as to what her mysterious friend will look like.

Well, she supposes she’ll find out soon enough.

~~~

School is dreadfully long. It’s so long that Rin has never noticed how long it could possibly be. She’s so used to dilly-dallying her time away with the thoughts of her work and home life that she’s almost forgotten what it felt like to be bored again.

Before her, on her desk, are her countless plans that she’s plotted in order to catch her thief. Her boredom has allowed her mind to spin with theories and, as such, she’s taken the liberty to unravel them all in a colorful vomit of pink and blue words that fill up all the space she has. She’s well aware that animals are sly creatures and, as such, they are not easily fooled twice. So, in order to avoid a catastrophe, she’s got to plan in advance.

She thinks about asking her friend, Yuzu, for advice but promptly retracts the idea when she realizes her friend is in a hissy mood. Her teeth are clenched, her fingers rubbing against her head as if to clear away her thoughts. Yuzu grumbles and grouses, muttering colorful words under her breath, and Rin knows better than to agitate a beast whose teeth are already bared.

So, Rin resorts to her own thoughts and whimsies. She’ll set a trap for the creature and encage it. From there, if her plot works and the creature isn’t smart enough to negotiate its way out, she’ll take it to her workplace and settle it down there.

She makes a mental list of traps that she can make – some of which are out of her price range, others of which are not – and she jots down her ideas with a kind of fever that ails her very thoughts. It is only when someone taps her on the shoulder that Rin realizes that class has ended and she blinks up at the person with a skittish smile.

“ _Masumi!_ ” she exclaims with a surprise. “How may I help you?”

The dark-skinned girl in question takes a sideways glance to Rin’s hornet nest of a desk. She wrinkles her nose at the assortment of pages that fly around in a mess and gives a sigh. “You’re heading towards the council room after this, right? Could you deliver these these-“ she holds out a perfectly-stacked bundle of papers – “to Ruri Kurosaki for me? I’m in a hurry right now and can’t deliver them myself.”

“Ruri?” Rin inquires and then nods, grabbing the papers. Masumi winces as they crunch under her fingers, the perfectness of the sheets turning into subtle wrinkles. “Sure, I don’t mind. Consider it done!”

Masumi dips her head. “I would appreciate that, thank you,” and then she departs before Rin can offer any form of small talk. Rin watches her go and then glances back at Yuzu. The pink-haired girl shrugs, grimaces, and then goes back to massaging her forehead.

Left with what looks like several surveys stacked together, Rin exits the room and makes her way down the left side of the hallway – the opposite end of where had Masumi had disappeared. People brush past her, whispering and murmuring among themselves, and she walks past them with a kind of hop in her step. Her plans have already emerged, she’s ready to take on her next challenge and settle the score with an animal adversary she has yet to meet!

But, first, she really needs to deliver these papers.

~~~~

Ruri is, as per usual, sitting in her chair at the front of the student council classroom headquarters. There is an air of politeness about her as Rin enters, a stifled smile that greets Rin with comfortable leisure.

“Rin Bell, right?” Ruri inquires, beckoning her in. “Did you need anything?”

Rin’s first thought is that Ruri sounds like some sort of receptionist. Her second thought is about the papers in her hands. She holds them out. “Masumi told me to give you these.”

The girl takes them with a nod, eyes skimming the surface. “Ah, right. The paperwork for the children’s festival. Thank you, I’ve been meaning to retrieve these today.” She stands up and stretches, setting the papers aside. “Now, I guess that means I should grab my brother.”

“Your brother?”

Ruri gives a smile that speaks more of malice than innocence. “He’s going to help me set up this festival.”

A sudden chill runs down Rin’s spine. It feels like a pair of eyes have opened and are raking their gaze down her backside. She looks at Ruri to see if the girl has noticed but Ruri gives off no visible indication that the temperature in the air has suddenly dropped ten degrees.

“Do you…have anything else for me?” Ruri asks.

“No, no,” Rin waves her hands in a dismissive remark. She’s suddenly warm again. “I’m fine.”

“Then you should probably get going,” Ruri cups her chin, sighs, and then nods to herself. She moves back to her chair and rests upon it like a princess might, prim and proper. “I wouldn’t want to keep you any further.”

“I…thanks,” and Rin scurries out with a nervous chuckle.

~~~

She pauses just outside of the animal shelter, lingering in the rain as drops of water greet her hair. The feeling is almost enticing, a kind of soothing lull that draws her in. Unlike her pink-haired friend, she was rather fond of the rain. She was especially fond of thunder, with the loud rumbles it made and the occasional streaks of white lightning that permeated the air.

Jack Atlas, head of the animal shelter, emerges with such proper posture that, upon first glance, he might seem more akin to a king than the owner of a ragtag animal safe-hold.

He greets Rin with a curt nod. “Good afternoon,” the man says.

“Good afternoon, sir,” she nods to him and he ushers her in.

Inside, cages upon cages lie in plain sight. Animals of all sorts – from rabbits to lizards to fish and snakes and dogs – lingered within their kennels, peering out curiously as she arrived and then giving her a variety of actions that suggest they are excited to see her.

Jack frowns at their reactions. “How come they never seem happy to see _me_?” he asks with an incredulous tone, scowling at a kitten who points its nose up at him and turns to Rin with rounded eyes.

“That’s because you’re a jerk to them,” a voice chimes, appearing behind stacks of boxes in the form of a orange-haired man. “Stop teasing them with food and maybe they’ll learn to respect you.”

Jack wrinkles his nose as if the comment is unwarranted and waves him off. “Back to work, Crow.”

“Alright, alright,” and he disappears into the depths of the shelter, a bird calling out after him.

Rin faces her boss with a smile. “If I may, can I ask for a couple of favors?”

He eyes her. “ _Please_ don’t say you’re going on vacation. Not _again_.”

“No, not now anyways,” she chuckles as he inevitably remembers _that_ incident. “Rather, I want to request the use of a pet carrier and the use of a kennel after my shift.”

“I’m guessing you have another troublesome animal to pick up?” He isn’t at all surprised.

“Yep.”

He ponders it for a second. “Fine, I give you permission to use those items. However, leave them in one piece alright? We don’t need any more expenses than what we already have.”

“I’ll try my best,” she promises.

“Good. Now, until then, you’re on the clock so get to work.”

She nods. “Right.”

And off to work she goes.

But not before her phone rings.

~~~

After her call with Yuzu, Rin is left salivating for information. The strange jeweled lizard that her friend had revealed to her was most definitely _not_ an animal. Instead, it was something otherworldly, a being that had value far beyond the common comprehension.

Rin ponders over the creature’s existence for the rest of her shift. Though she’d had only a glimpse of Yuzu’s find, she was already starstruck. Such a wonderous find would surely yield results that would leave Rin baffled to no end.

For one, what exactly was it? It was reptilian in appearance, adorned with red scales and eyes that spoke of dual colors. She’d seen the jewels that glistened on its body and the ivory spikes that jutted up from its shoulders and formed a ball upon its chest. Such an odd, odd thing. Truly magnificent, in Rin’s opinion.

If only she could get her hands on it.

~~~~

Rin’s client greets her with a raised eyebrow and doubt clear in his eyes. He beckons to the contraption in her hands with evident disgust.

“How is that supposed to catch this thing?” Roger asks, eyeing the long cord that dangles from the metal mesh barrier. It extends outwards like some sort of over-sized tail and trails behind her for quite a considerable distance.

“It’s a trap,” she says lightly. “The bait’s already been put in place.”

The bait in question being freshly cooked chicken. She’d acquired it from her parents who were more than used to her weird requests. They rarely wished to question her so long as it made her happy.

She asks her first question of interest: “Where does this creature normally exit from?”

He gives her a frown and points to a nearby window. “From there.”

“Great. Do you have anything cooking right now? Anything that might distract it?”

“No, not yet. I wanted to wait until after you caught it to do anything.”

“Good, good. Then I can take care of things from here. It’s best if you wait inside for the time being; I don’t want you to spook it.”

“Whatever it takes,” he gives a nod and then returns into his house.

Perfect. Time to get acquainted with her new friend.

Rin tiptoes forward, uncertain and quite wary of the possibility for another presence. Animals, as she well knew, could be clever little devils. And, if she was not careful, her trap might fail before it had a chance to work. So, Rin has to be diligent, be practical, be smart about her plan.

She settles her pet carrier in the midst of a small clearing. She places it just in front of her client’s window and then retreats into some bushes. The long cord follows after her, long and dangling under her wary gaze.

She nestles herself among the leaves and branches, eyes peering out to watch the trap. She’s prepared to wait for as long as it takes even if bags form under her eyes and her knees tremble from exhaustion from crouching so long.

However, unlike what she expects, her visitor makes it appearance shortly after she tucks herself away. It is a blur of white and black and blue, an animal so fast that her eyes can never pick up on its true form. She wonders how such a possibility can exist, how such an _animal_ can exist. But then, maybe it’s not. Who knew, honestly, and it wasn’t like Rin was going to understand unless she _actually pays attention_.

The thing swarms the carrier, circling it and prodding it with some sort of snout that tilts the carrier back and forth. Her grip tightens on the cord in her hands. _Patience,_ she tells herself. _Be patient._

The blur made some sort of growling sound, uncertain but certainly cautious. It no doubt could sense the food inside, could smell what tempted it so. Yet, it remained alert, darting to and fro and all around for any signs of danger. At one point, it seemed to observe the obvious string of black that snakes from the carrier over to Rin’s hand but, thankfully, it made no move to follow it. Then, when it seems it has exhausted all possible areas in the clearing, it makes its way to the inside of the cage.

Rin acts fast and with such perfect timing. As soon as the creature enters she pulls the cord and watches as the metal barrier falls down to ensnare it. The thing, realizing it’s been duped, snarls and begins battering itself against the silver mesh that holds it inside.

“Caught you!” she shouts with such glee that she bursts from out of her hiding spot. “I caught you!”

Rin picks up the cage and notices that it vibrates under her hands. Odd, but she doesn’t think. If anything it is probably seething inside, loathing the cage it has been placed into.

Her client greets her. “You did it?” Roger asks in a questioning manner.

“Yep. Do you want to see him?”

The man waves a hand. “I don’t care enough to be bothered by the likes of animals,” a growl from the thing inside the carrier, “and I’d rather you just take it away as soon as possible. Far away from me and _my_ meat.”

She nods and then thinks of something. “Alright,” she takes out a notepad and writes an amount on it. “Here, this is the payment required for my services.”

He pulls out a checkbook, notes something on a check and then hands it to her. Perfect. A done deal. With the check in hand, she says her goodbyes to Roger and makes her way back to the animal shelter.

Rin just hopes her new friend won’t do anything to trouble her on the way back.

~~~

Well, she was wrong.

The creature did everything it possibly could to trouble her.

At first, it expressed its outrage in the form of vicious snarls and desperate scrabbling at the barrier that kept it from the outside world. Then, it moved onto playing silent. Or, rather, it moved on to playing dead. It went limp in the cage, motionless and non-living. However, that charade disappeared quickly as it found it couldn’t suppress its own supply of energy. It moved on to a long chorus of whines, yipping for her sympathy when she refused to remove it. And, then, when that failed, it began attacking both sides of the carrier. Its antics forced her to keep the cage at quite a considerable amount of distance. Her arms were growing waaay too tired holding it out as far away as she could from her body with all the racket it was making.

The trip back to the animal shelter was certainly not an easy one. Rin was almost regretting her choice to decline Crow’s previous offer of transportation. Certainly, her journey back would not have been as difficult as it had been had the creature been sitting in a car rather than in her irritated hands.

When she arrives at the animal shelter, it is almost a relief to her to drop the cage and search for the key that opens up the building in her pockets. The inside of the shelter is dim, as it should be, because Crow and Jack should’ve left only minutes before.

Rin pushes her way inside, grabbing at the carrier before she enters and makes her way to the special kennel already prepared for her. All around her, the animals of the shelter become awakened by her entrance. They begin to chatter, curious and gleeful at her sudden reappearance. However, the creature inside her carrier is of quite the opposite thought. It snarls at any noise it hears, clawing at the barrier and at the holes that allow it air to breath.

“Geez, lighten up will you?” She says to it, snatching the key to the kennel off a nearby desk alongside a bag of treats. Rin enters inside the structure of tall bars and hopes that there isn’t enough space for her creature to slip through as she locks the door behind her.

The green-haired girl sits her carrier down and kneels before the entrance. From the depths of the cage, golden eyes glare at her, unamused.

“Alright, I’m going to open the door,” she says to it, fingers hovering over the hatch, “and, when I do, I expect you to be nice and calm. I have food for you if you behave.”

Golden eyes blink at the word _food._ It’s temper tantrum tapers off and it lapses into a curious silence.

Huh. She wonders if it can understand her.

True to her word, she opens the cage. The yellow eyes remain in darkness, observing and thoughtful, before it shoots out of the carrier and straight into the metal bars that hold it hostage.

There’s a sudden high-pitched whine and the creature bumbles back, slowing down to the point where she can observe its features fully. Golden eyes and a black belly and white armor edged with blue and large green crystals that somehow manifest in mid-air make up the majority of the creature. It is reptilian in nature, small and scaly and with eyes that are somehow pupil-less. Claws rub at its snout and it shuffles back from the bars with a glare. It tries again, trying its best to slip through the bars by a show of ramming in-between them, and the sheer force of its attack sends it stumbling back.

“What...are you?”

It whips around, tail in the air. She retreats back a step. It moves towards her, footstep by footstep, until it is merely a foot from her.

Then, it jumps.

The thing is fast, supernaturally so, and it takes Rin by complete surprise. She can’t react, not in time, and she watches as it launches itself at her face.

However, the creature does not actually aim for her face. Instead, it aims for the bag she is holding, ripping it from her fingers and landing right behind her.

“Hey!” she shouts, spinning around.

The creature ignores her and retreats as far away as it can. Teeth bite into brown packaging and it shreds away strips of plastic to get to the contents inside. Brown chicken-flavored pellets roll from the bag, creating a messy pile that the creature gorges upon without restraint. Rin, though fascinated and perhaps a bit shaken, pursues it and picks up the rest of the bag while the beast is distract. The item is not fully destroyed, merely tattered at the top, and there is still a reasonable amount of its contents left in-tact. She cradles the item closer to her chest, staring at the bizarre creature with horrified interest.

Whatever it is, it’s a messy eater. Pellets fly everywhere, rolling through the bars and over to her feet. It seems not to care though, feasting ravenously on anything it can get its claws on. It’s a bipedal creature, one who pokes its arms through the bar and who picks up the treat items pellet-by-pellet until they are all shoved into its mouth one-by-one. When it finishes, it looks up at the bag in her hand with drips of saliva pouring down its mouth.

Rin looks between it and the treats and watches as it approaches. She backs up. “ _No!_ ” She tells it, pointing a finger as if to scold it. It perks up, cocking its head left and right as if it doesn’t understand the meaning of such a thing. “No more for you.”

It jumps anyways and, this time, Rin is prepared. She sidesteps the attack and the creature barrels yet again into the bars that make up the kennel. It slides down with a long-winded whine that makes her heart ache. Rin goes up to it, watches as it tucks its head down to the ground, and then approaches it with a pellet in her hand.

“Are you hurt?” she asks, bending down. “I’m sorry, there’s nothing else I can do but keep you here.”

The creature accepts her offer by nosing it off her hand and then eating it from the ground. Once it finishes, it swipes its blue tongue across its mouth and regards her. There is caution in its eyes, a certain concern that has it eyeing her outstretched hand as if she’s going to yank it up by its collar and shove her back inside its cage.

“You can roam in this kennel, if you want. I won’t put you back into the carrier if you don’t want too.”

It looks up at her with widened eyes. There’s a disbelieving squeal and it seems to almost frown at her.

She pulls out her phone and checks the time.

She needs to go.

Rin turns to the beast, grabbing the remainder of the treats leftover and goes over to the door of the kennel. She places her whole body in the space between the outside and inside world and then slips through the gap before her fast friend can follow. It huffs and growls and, when that doesn’t work, whines at her in protest.

“ _No_ _, mister_.”

She slips past the barrier and then shuts the door and locks it into place as quickly as she can. The creature jumps again and puts its arms through the bars, scrabbling for her attention. Rin shakes her head and sighs, taking the keys to the kennel and putting them on a nearby crate. There, out of reach for anything not human.

“I’ll come back for you in them morning before Crow or Jack come so I can give an explanation on the situation. I’m sure they’re going to want answers.”

The thing shakes its head. It claws at the bars and she winces at the sound. It’s like nails on a chalkboard except worse. The sound grates at her ears, tearing into her. Rin sighs as a wail of animal noises fills the air, the creatures of the shelter obviously disturbed at such a racket.

“Hey, hey. It’ll be fine, alright? I’ll come back tomorrow to be here for you so, _just, please don’t make that noise_.”

Reluctantly, its paws fall to its side. Yellow eyes bore into her and her shoulders slump, her hand rubbing her forehead.

“God, what have I gotten myself into?”

“Mrrrr?” the creature inquires. “ _Mrrrrrrr?_ ”

“You’re not helping,” she tells it and it deflates. “Just…stay here and _be quiet_. We don’t need another upset in the neighborhood. I’ll bring some chicken or something when I come back so, until then, I expect you to be a good little boy.”

Something flickers in the lizard’s eyes and it flicks out its tongue, fidgeting. Rin shakes her head and then takes her leave.

“You better be here when I get back!” she shouts. “No leaving!”

Absent-mindedly, she wonders when she’d begun to consider it comprehensive of human language. Ah. Well. It doesn’t matter. The thing is just an animal. And, no matter how much she longs to be able to communicate with one, Rin knows better than that. She’ll go home, come back, and the thing will be in its cage and the whole shelter will be at peace like it normally is.

However, when she comes to the shelter the next day, the lizard is missing and the shelter is in an uproar.

Well, at least she can admit she’s wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *flops over* 
> 
> So, a bit of explanation I guess. This takes place on the same day as chapter 1. So, Yuzu's behavior is explained beforehand in that chapter while Ruri's will be, naturally, explained next chapter. Serena's (though she's yet to appear) will be shown last. 
> 
> Both Rin's and Yuzu's chapters set up the frame and idea of the story with their dragons. Ruri's and Serena's will set up (the terrible) plot. Chapter five will tie up day one's loose ends. 
> 
> Tell me what you thought of this chapter? Was it a good introduction to (my version of bc technically there is no canon version of) Rin's character? Does it make sense? I'm still learning how to write characters especially when there's little to go on so it'd be much appreciated to see how others feel about the way I've written the Bracelet Girls so far.


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